The Truffle

Sarah Palin's latest quest to find something to stand for has led her to call herself a feminist and talk about "mama grizzlies." Why feminists don't simply laugh their asses off is beyond me. Oh, I know why--it's because somehow Palin's new schtick has earned her a Newsweek cover story, which means that Very Serious Media People are supposed to take it seriously. Jezebel , at least, is having fun Photoshopping said Newsweek cover. Let's leave aside the part about Palin making Wasilla's rape victims pay for their rape kits. And her stand on abortion. (Here, I should emphasize that I believe it's possible to be a feminist and oppose abortion. It would be really cool, however, if Feminists for Life and their ilk would push contraception, work to make adoption easier, and promote responsible, realistic sex education. It would also be helpful if they'd admit that the days of botched abortions are not an era any woman would want to revisit....

Mike Murphy and Peggy Noonan caught on live mike, dissing Precious Princess Palin.

The Disasta from Alaska has a job at Faux News. Can everyone stop taking her seriously now? Please?

Did the Disasta from Alaska really think she could make up stories without someone doing some fact-checking? In "Going Rogue" Palin wrote: "In that first year, I was alerted to threats against Willow by students at her Juneau school, one particularly disturbing. Someone posted a note on an Internet site threatening to gang-rape her at school. I never felt safe for her after that. Later, the same thing happened to Bristol." Willow Palin attended Dzantik'i Heeni Middle School, while Bristol Palin attended Juneau-Douglas High School. Palin provided no details about where the Internet site was, how seriously she took the threats, how she knew it was posted by students, or what steps she'd taken to ensure her family's safety. Former Juneau School District Superintendent Peggy Cowan was superintendent during the period in question and said she never heard of such concerns. "That was never reported to my office," she said. "I am completely confi...

Guess WHICH Palin?

The liberal media is so, so mean to her.

A few misguided feminists like Rebecca Walker are trying to wrap their brains around the concept of a conservative Republican female VP candidate by...claiming she somehow is a feminist with a different concept of feminism. (Click the linky and you'll find the Walker babbling about "feminist think tanks." What feminist think tanks?) To anyone who babbles about Palin's supposed feminism, here is a nasty fact: When Sarah Palin was mayor of Wasilla, rape victims had to pay for their rape kits. Yes, that's right, the victim herself had to foot the cost of providing evidence to arrest and prosecute her rapist. The logic was that the victim could charge her insurance company the cost of the rape kit. Of course, if she didn't have health insurance, she had to pay for the rape kit out of her own pocket. And what if she's poor and has no insurance and can't pay for the rape kit? Well, gee, just because some of Palin's government policies were harmfu...

Bet you didn't know the Precious Princess' parents have taken up a post-retirement career as rat killers . Gee, her family sounds like a tough-as-nails bunch. But even Momsy and Popsy are protesting the media's supposedly shabby treatment of their little princess. Methinks they doth protest too much. For one thing, CBS still hasn't aired one potentially damning segment. Basically the Precious Princess only knows about one Supreme Court case: Roe vs. Wade. Did she study American history? If so, did she pay attention in class or just cheat off the other students during exams?

Spent the night at a show with Le Sweetie. Meat Puppets, followed by Dinosaur, Jr., followed by Built to Spill. Verdict? Show was awesome. Didn't miss the debates. But man, J. Mascis has gone graaaaaaaaaay. He's well on his way to being one of those aging hipsters who haven't changed their appearance since they were 16 or so. He's got long, long gray hair and all he needs is a tie-dye shirt now. I have to catch on footage of all the debate jabs, punditry, and Palinesque interview gaffes I've missed. Especially Palin's gaffes. Like this one from her chat with Couric. She's explaining why she didn't get a passport until last year or so: I’m not one of those who maybe came from a background of, you know, kids who perhaps graduate college and their parents give them a passport and give them a backpack and say go off and travel the world. No, I’ve worked all my life. In fact, I usually had two jobs all my life until I had kids. I was not a part of, I g...

McCain was really hoping to culture-war his way into the White House with his pick of Precious Princess Palin (a.k.a. She Who Must Not Be Exposed to the Mean Media). What could be a better strategy than picking a wingnut to make the base all quivery with excitement? Why, picking a female wingnut, of course! It really was comical, how blatant Team McCain was in their strategy: screw issues. We're going to talk about personalities and hockey moms and lipstick. Because...well, the culture war worked before, so why not now? What a difference a week and half can make. Precious Princess Palin's interview with Charles Gibson was a bust, and assorted controversies keep emerging from Alaska. For such a popular, charismatic GOP rising star, she sure has a lot of enemies. The Precious Princess's pick was not about merit, of course (see this list of more qualified GOP women). It was about rallying the 28 percenters. And also about giving wingnuts a chance to pretend that they...